3.07.2011

Consumers and B to B clients are moving targets. That's why it makes sense to focus on updating your "public face", your offerings and even the way you personally engage clients and potential clients. Many people debated the intelligence of removing the type from the Starbuck's logo but it makes perfect sense if your plan is to move beyond coffee. They've made the foray into ice cream and music, now watch them start serving wine in the afternoons and evening. Their core market is adults and they own the morning for the middle to upscale part of the market (Sorry McDonald's....) but the problem with adults, even the most caffeine addicted adults, is that few of them can drink much coffee in the evenings and still sleep.

That means that Starbuck's sales probably look like downhill skiing when you chart hour by hour sales.

If you can get adults back in by changing your product mix to match hour by hour sensibilities then you maximize your investment in rent and wages. Wine and cheese makes perfect sense. Happy Hour at Starbucks. Please note that this is just my opinion about how they might go forward.......

As photographers we've got some psychological and process hurdles to get over too. The days of print sales are wrapping up. If you sell directly to consumers (weddings and portraits) you've got to re-invent your business so that pricing and fulfillment aren't 100% dependent on the physical print being your final product. As demographics shift the draw of the print declines in lock step with the acceleration of electronic display. You should probably be working to a sales model that delivers final images on an iPad. With a slide show. With video. With other extensions.

In commercial (advertising and corporate) photography the print is as rare as a dodo. We deliver high res tiff files to clients who are aiming toward magazine or direct mail or brochure print production. We deliver profiled and optimized Jpegs to web designers and web marketers. If you gave a print to our direct clients (such as medical practices and retailers) the first thing they would do is scan it into their system and the second thing they'd do is find another photographer.

My graphic designer spouse reminds me that color preferences change in two to three years cycles and popular typestyles change quickly too. Refreshing the look of our logos becomes a priority when daily presentation of a website is the lifeblood of commerce.

Website design is now fashion. And fashions change with the seasons (warning: this is not a suggestion to use pumpkin graphics in the fall and beach balls in summer.....) What's your Fall line look like?

Just like Starbucks we have seasonal shifts of demand and by broadening our offerings and pushing into new markets we can smooth out the curves so that the slow times are less........slow. Think of the addition of video services as the introduction of Frappacinos. That was a brilliant move on SB's part to build Summer traffic. The coffee of our business is the photo assignment. The copywriting is the hot chocolate.

Now, along with refreshing my brand, I guess I need to come up with names for our different products.